Tag Archives: Tania

Last Saturday, June 18, friends and fans of Shulgin research turned up in surprising numbers to the UC Berkeley campus bookstore for a signing of The Shulgin Index, Vol. I.

University of California neurobiologist David Presti introduced the authors, Sasha Shulgin, Tania Manning, and Paul Daley. After a reading from the book and a brief Q&A session, the authors greeted guests and personalized copies of their latest work.

The audience was peppered with notable researchers amongst the supporters. Chilean psychologist Claudio Naranjo, a pioneer in the use of MDMA and other psychedelics in therapeutic work (and longtime friend of the Shulgins), was introduced. He was received with warm applause.

Transform Press reported a record number of one-day sales at the event. Proceeds from books purchased will directly support further Shulgin research and publications.

Now, as to Sasha’s state of brain and mind. As you know, he has mild dementia, which is the reason we have round-the-clock care. For a couple of years, he was taking Aricept and Namenda, which may or may not have helped slow the process, but which obviously weren’t doing much of anything recently. Our new doctor, Paul Abramson, decided to take him off those, and put him on hydergine, Albert Hofmann’s compound. That was about three weeks ago. I didn’t expect any obvious results, and of course one never knows if a state of dementia is being slowed down; I mean, how would you tell?

So when Dee (one of our miraculous Tibetan women) told me that Sasha was suddenly doing certain little things (like feeding himself) which he hadn’t been doing before, I said “What! He is?” or something like that, and she then listed a few other things that he was doing better, all of which was astonishing. Clearly, the hydergine has been changing things. He takes it three times a day.

I’m thinking seriously of asking our doctor if I might try the drug myself. After all, it’s my understanding that Albert and his wife took it themselves for many years, and my thinking, focusing and memory could use a bit of sharpening, to say the least!

I know that dementia is not reversible, and that the brain’s blood vessels can’t be cleaned out the way some blood vessels in the legs can be, but even small improvements — less sleepiness (sometimes), more ability to focus on things that matter to him (like chemistry), a bit less “sundowning” in the evenings (sometimes) — become immensely important to all of us. It’s like getting a bit more “real Sasha” back, even if it isn’t every day or every evening. We really celebrate every improvement of this kind, and hope that it’ll last for a while.

I hear from Greg that an amazing number of lovely people have asked what I want for my birthday. A card would be wonderful, but as for gifts — I’m sure you’ll understand when I say that what matters to me most is being relieved of the constant anxiety about how we’re going to afford to keep Sasha at home with the excellent and loving care he’s getting from our three Graces. By the way, Sasha’s increase in physical strength, his ability to walk now with a cane instead of a walker, is entirely due to the women who take care of him and put him through exercises all day long (although they do let him nap a bit in his chair after meals). They treat him like their own fathers, with love and humor, and you can’t put a price on that.

So what I want for my birthday is to find a few very wealthy and compassionate people who are interested in consciousness and familiar with the world of psychedelics, and who understand what Sasha’s work has meant — and will continue to mean, long after he dies — and can afford to help us keep him home and so very well cared-for.

In the meantime, I feel tremendous gratitude to all of you who have sacrificed God knows what, to send us whatever you could. It’s because of you that we’ve made it this far, and I hope you understand that I can’t thank you individually, although I would if I could.

The best thing I can do in return is to continue The Third Book. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I can put aside one whole day a week (with Tania’s help) to do nothing but write. Several chapters are already half written, and I’m going to re-write them and continue with new chapters and the necessary research next week. Tania is away this weekend, but after Sunday, she’ll be able to take the phones and keep the world at bay for that one whole day a week, and I’ll get started.

For now, I wish you all Blessings — and don’t forget to re-set your clocks before bed on Saturday.

Dear People All over the World, including China, unless the people in China are among those who believe that Tibet is better off as part of China than before they were part of China. Although I don’t wish to alienate any nice people in China, they must understand that I am a devoted admirer of the Dalai Lama and all the people of Tibet who resisted the invasion of Big Brother China. I would not have expanded on this except for Greg, who always puts my writing onto Caring Bridge and Facebook, and who phoned me today when I was driving in town (without my head set) and asked me (referring to yester– oops — several days ago, when my salutation included the words, “except the people of China,” or something like that), and asked me, “Why?”

My reply was rather scattered, since a corner of my mind was busy trying to identify possible policemen or other law enforcement who might notice that I wasn’t talking into a headset, and subsequently levy upon me a fine of huge proportions. And they would be right. I believe in headsets while driving and also while not driving, and I own two of them, but don’t know where they are at the moment.

Since then, I’ve reviewed the part of my brain that contains files called “China and Tibet,” and re-affirmed my strong feelings about that subject. That’s why you are being subjected to all this. I’m out of the China closet. Actually, that used to be (in the late 1800’s) called the China cabinet, but —- Never Mind.

Where was I?

Oh, yes. Hello, Dear People of Everywhere,

Today was one of the Big Days. Sasha actually walked all the way to the lab, and took his seat inside, with his caregiver present, and began talking chemistry with Paul, who took some fantastic photos. Tania joined them at one point, and there is a great picture of all three of them, smiling broadly.

We are (meaning the two girls/women/ladies and I) gradually getting a picture — sort of — of Sasha’s pain problems, the where and the why. His Achilles tendon and the heel have become almost-perfect examples of superb Western medicine and what can be done by really good Western surgeons. The original angels are, of course, Drs. Howard Kornfeld and Paul Abramson, who pointed us in the direction of said surgeons. Without them, we would never have heard of doctors who label themselves “Limb Savers,” and we probably would have lost a foot by now. And, yes, we all would have lost that foot.

In the evenings, Sasha’s needle pains attack his leg, and they are now being understood as the results of the peripheral neuropathy, and he’ll probably continue having that problem. We’ll do our best to make him as healthy as possible by means of diet (fresh fruits and veggies, protein, vitamins, etc.) as well as exercise. Following the advice of a very wise person, we’re giving him goat’s milk and Basmati rice, and these do actually help reduce swelling in his feet, which is a real concern. But we’re all still learning. Every night is a bit different. When he can be persuaded to stay in bed most of the night, the foot swelling is gone by morning. When his pain makes it necessary for him to sleep in the Lazyboy chair, the swelling is still present when he wakes up. But all of it is getting better.

Sasha’ mental state seems to have improved during the day, since he came home from hospital, but the “sundowning” is almost always present, to some extent, by the time evening comes. His chemical knowledge is still there, though, and now that he can work in the lab with Paul, it will probably sharpen and improve, along with his analytical ability and other aspects of his mental functioning. But he can’t be left alone, because there’s too much risk of falling, among other things. So we continue to fund-raise, because we’ll need 24-hour a day help for the rest of Sasha’s life. So far, as I’ve said many times, we’ve been amazingly lucky in our caregivers, with perhaps a single exception, but we’re busy taking care of that exception. We seem to have attracted really lovely human beings — funny and caring and patient — and may it continue to be so. With Tania and Greg as our right and left arms, all we can do is give thanks (and feed them all Basmati rice).

For the moment, this is all. When Greg returns from his mother’s funeral, I’ll write more.

Love and thanks to all of you. Sleep well and dream in color (unless you don’t want to). Ann